I suffered a concussion on June 23rd (over two months ago), and I'm still having symptoms that REALLY bother me. I don't know how EXACTLY I got the concussion, because I went to bed one night, and my next memory is trying to walk up the stairs back to my bedroom and having difficulty walking and even standing up. By the time I got up to my room, I didn't know where I was, and I was really confused. That was around 5:45am. It was about 15 minutes later that I realized where I was and that I had hit the back of my head really badly, because there was a HUGE contusion and my hair was wet. Which I later why.. my roommate (a bartender) had gotten home around 3:30am and said I was sitting in the dark on the living room floor with ice on my head. She said she kept asking me how I hit it, and she said I just kept telling her I don't know. (I don't remember this conversation AT ALL). Anyway, so once I realized I had hit my head and that I was confused, I realized I probably had a concussion, but instead of doing anything about it, I fell asleep and didn't wake up until a little after 8am. With my head pounding, I somehow drove myself to urgent care, where they told me that I needed to go to the emergency department of the hospital. I called my roommate up and she picked me up and dropped me off there. I spent the rest of the day there getting a CAT scan, EEG or EKG (I can't remember which one), and an x-ray because I also had a big welt on my lower right back that hurt really bad. In addition, I had a scraped up knee and a few days later, I noticed really bad bruising on my shin. So, my best educated guess is I fell down the stairs, or I fell on the kitchen floor trying to climb over the baby gate we had up.
Anyway, the hospital concluded that I had a concussion, but was otherwise fine, and sent me on my merry way.
For the next couple weeks I was SOOOOOO SLEEPY I could barely stay awake and I was super sensitive to light, constantly confused and unfocused and my whole body ached. Going to work was so hard. So I went to the doctor, where they told me it could take up to 12 weeks to recover. So they sent me on my merry way.
Well, a couple weeks ago I was STILL having these symptoms, so I went back to the doctor. They checked my blood, and said I had a vitamin D deficiency, so gave me a prescription for a vitamin D pill to take once a week, and sent me on my merry way.
By the end of last week I was so fed up with my fatigue, inability to concentrate and focus for work, and light sensitivity, so I called up my doctor and said I'd like a referral to see a neurologist. Now I'm waiting to get an appointment confirmed with the neurologist.
It has started to affect my job, I am a home health speech therapist, where I drive to my patients' homes for therapy. My boss wants me seeing at least 5 patients a day, and some days I'm lucky if I can get in 3 patients, because I get dangerously tired, so tired that I start to feel myself falling asleep at the wheel. I've actually been pulled over twice for swerving went I wasn't even doing anything but driving, and I got a ticket one of the times. Getting through my day is so hard. All I think about is wanting to sleep. I leave for work by 9 or 10am and get home by 6pm and fall asleep by 7pm and sleep until 8am. I am getting over 12 hours of sleep some nights, and nights that I don't get at least 12 hours, I feel like I have narcolepsy the next day. It's incredibly frustrating because I can barely get through my work day, let alone get stuff done I need to around the house. And I can't remember the last time I had the energy/time to do something leisurely and enjoyable like read, do yoga, or take my dog for a walk. The fatigue seems to only be getting worse. Could it be because I never really rested in the first place after the concussion? I feel like my medical care hasn't been as good as it could be. I mean, after a concussion that severe (which I don't even know how severe it was, no one explained it to me), it seems like I should have eased back into working and doing stuff. Everything is such an effort now, and it's really got me down and out. I'm so discouraged. I WANT to do stuff, like ride my bike and do other hobbies, but I just don't have the energy to.Like I said, I barely have the energy to get through a work day, and my boss is starting to get on me about my lack of productivity. I CANNOT lose my job.
Anyway, I would like to know what others' opinions are about my situation and what I need to do at this point. What is the best way to recover from a concussion like this? I just want to feel normal again! Thank you for reading this LONG message and thank you in advance for those of you who share your thoughts!!